How do you say "wide" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "wide" is 広い (Hiroi). It is a adjective pronounced "hee-roh-ee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

広い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as Hiroi, it sounds roughly like "hee-roh-ee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

この部屋はとても広いです。

Kono heya wa totemo hiroi desu.

This room is very wide.

Usage notes

Hiroi (広い) is an i-adjective meaning wide, broad, or spacious. It is used for rooms, roads, parks, and open spaces. Its opposite is semai (narrow). Hiroi sekai means 'the wide world.'

Related words

Practice 広い and hundreds more Japanese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about 広い

How do you pronounce 広い?

広い is romanised as Hiroi. Say it roughly like "hee-roh-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 広い formal or casual?

広い is an i-adjective. The form shown is the plain form, which works in casual speech. To make it polite, add desu at the end of the sentence. The word itself does not change.

How is 広い written in Japanese?

広い is written using kanji and hiragana. Kanji characters carry the core meaning; any hiragana or katakana that follow show grammatical endings.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.